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The Japanese surname stenciled in black on the green flank of the hulking armoured vehicle has a tale to tell. Few of the civilians clambering atop or inside the Leopard II Armoured Recovery Vehicle on display at Spruce Meadows have an inkling what significance the name Hayakaze holds to the men and women of the […]

“With everything that’s happened these past few weeks, we appreciate our country even more.” Tuesday morning, Richard Kruger offers this simple explanation for bringing his kids to Calgary’s Military Museums for its 22nd annual Remembrance Day ceremony.

Calgary MP Rob Anders believes military officers and police should carry guns and ammunition when they’re off duty. “If we trust them enough to arm them during war and conflict, we should trust the military and the police to have their guns, their sidearms, and to have ammunition when they’re off duty too,” he said on Saturday.

“It’s as per normal here — no barricades, no armed escorts,” says Capt. Steven Zivkow as he stands Thursday morning at the entrance to Calgary’s Mewata Armoury. “We don’t hide in buildings because someone’s causing problems.” What’s not per normal on this sunny morning is the growing collection of flower bouquets on the ground before us, and, a stone’s throw away, the Canadian flag that Zivkow just lowered to fly at half-mast.

After two soldiers were killed in stunning attacks within days of each other in Ottawa and Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., reservists in Calgary made some security changes at a downtown armoury, but vowed their work would go on. “These are our family, so we want to make sure that they’re protected,” said Capt. Steven Zivkow, of the Calgary Highlanders, a land reserve infantry unit, though he would not disclose exactly what precautions have been taken.

Years before most westerners had heard of the Taliban, they were already on Sally Armstrong’s radar — and she was on theirs. “I was their worst nightmare,” she says with a wry laugh of the extremists who at one point held her captive for 24 hours, later adding her name to a list of high-profile enemies of their cause. Over the past quarter of a century, the Canadian journalist and author has gone where few others have dared to tread, into some of the most dangerous places on the planet where oppression and human rights abuses run rampant. Her experiences and observations on its effects on women and girls have filled bestselling books and won her numerous awards, while her opinion pieces have run in such prominent publications as The New York Times.

EDMONTON — Amid opposition accusations of political patronage, Premier Jim Prentice put his personal stamp on Alberta’s foreign offices Wednesday, dumping the top two envoys and handing a job to a senior member of his campaign team. Prentice appointed veteran federal diplomat Ron Hoffman to immediately begin reorganizing Alberta’s eight Asian offices and eventually replace envoy Gary Mar when his contract expires next June.

The head of one of the world’s biggest corporations is the marquee speaker this year at the Changing Fortunes Round Table event at Spruce Meadows. John Watson, chairman and chief executive of U.S.-based Chevron Corporation with a current market capitalization of $240 billion, will be here Friday for this year’s discussion on World Energy with more than 180 national and international top-decision makers in attendance and a waiting list of many more wanting to be there.

A war that is still very much in the collective memory and experience of Canadians is the subject of a memorial on a coast-to-coast journey of remembrance. The Afghanistan Memorial Vigil is in Calgary this week, bringing plaques bearing the names and pictures of 204 people who died during the conflict to a display at the foot of the Calgary Tower.

Members of the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry will run through Calgary on Friday as part of a five-province relay that commemorates the regiment’s centennial and pays tribute to fallen comrades. Runners will be carrying a baton containing the names of 1,866 PPCLI members as they run a route from the Burnsland Cemetery at 27th Avenue and Spiller Road S.E. to the Military Museums at 4520 Crowchild Trail S.W.

Watching Olympic gold medal hockey on television; catching the sunrise at the top of Maui’s Haleakala volcano; being the first in line to drop a tarp on the grass at the Calgary Folk Music Festival. Those are some of the very few things that would rouse the average person out of bed at 4 a.m., a fact of life that made General (ret.) Rick Hillier chuckle on Saturday morning. “In my business we call that sleeping in,” said the former chief of Canada’s defence staff and commander of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.

Premier Alison Redford pledged at least $1-billion in provincial funding Monday for recovery and relief from flooding that has swept through Calgary and southern Alberta but warned that rebuilding could take a decade. Following an emergency meeting of the provincial Treasury Board, Redford told reporters the government would earmark $1-billion now as a first phase — with more dollars certain to follow.

113. 51. 137. 151. Four sets of numbers, arranged by using more than 20,000 painted rocks. For nearly a century, the hilltop formation in the community of Signal Hill has served as a sentinel for several generations of Calgarians. Hauled up in sacks by the young men going off to fight in the First World War, the signal rocks were both an optimistic nod to patriotic duty and a sombre message to those they left behind: Do not forget us.

On the day of her eldest daughter’s wedding, someone shovelled her snowy front walk. In the dark days after that daughter’s death a few years later, neighbours mowed her lawn, dropped off hot meals and left thoughtful cards in her mailbox. “So many of them started with, ‘you don’t know me, but I live on your street,’ ” recalls Sally Goddard of the spring of 2006, when her neighbours on Butler Crescent came to her family’s aid after her daughter, Captain Nichola Goddard, was killed on the battlefields of Afghanistan.

From an early age, Zeenab Kassam had a giving spirit that led her to a nursing career and volunteer stints around the world. She was due to return home to Calgary on Thursday after spending a year and a half in Afghanistan volunteering as an English teacher through the Aga Khan Development Network.

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